The Kids Are All Right

I’m a 60 year-old woman traveling alone through Australia. So how did I find myself crammed into a minibus with eighteen twenty-somethings, about to embark upon a 2500 kilometer adventure to Ayers Rock and Alice Springs? I was attracted to the idea of camping under the stars and taking a sunrise walk around the Rock, and when I asked if the tour was appropriate for me I was assured that people of all ages take this tour.

Three months later in Adelaide, a gaudily painted minibus labelled “Groovy Grape” pulled up outside my hostel at the appointed 7 a.m. pick-up time. Is this really my group? Can't be - they're all 20! "We’re all crazy,” announces Tom, our guide, the only other person even half my age on the bus. “Nobody in their right mind does this trip in the summer.” (And no 60 year-old in her right mind does this trip with a bunch of twenty-year olds, either, I mutter under my breath).

We share our favorite travel tips. Mine is: “No matter what happens, figure out some way to have fun.” I think I may have some trouble following that advice, but during the long, hot, cramped drive, I discover that my companions are seasoned adventurers with a lot to teach me about having a good time.

Tom shares with us his vast knowledge of life in the outback and of “tjukurpa," the moral and ethical code that governs the aboriginal way of life, slowly drawing us into a place and a culture unlike any I have ever experienced before. It is hypnotic. The road is endlessly monotonous, but I feel myself changing with each passing kilometer. At the Rock, we go to watch the sunset and see a group of people my age who are sipping champagne as they wait for the sun to go down. My group is scruffy by comparison, but I realize at that moment that I don’t want to be on the “old people’s bus,” as the kids jokingly call it. I want to be exactly where I am. We may not have traveled in as much comfort the people who came by luxury coach, but I am positive we are having more fun.

At the last night dinner, I tell two of my young companions that I felt kind awkward at first with them – after all, they had not planned on doing the trip with their “mom.” “Oh,” they replied, laughing. “Our moms would NEVER do this trip – we think you’re awesome.” I started out thinking that this trip wasn’t what I wanted at all, but it ended up being just what I needed. I’m ready now for almost anything - after all, the kids think I’m awesome!